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Igbo land (Standard ) is a cultural region and common linguistic region in southeastern Nigeria which is the indigenous homeland of the Ibo people.Baikie (1854) uses Ibo is the term for Iboland: "Ibo, as I have formerly mentioned, started and stoped at the eastern part of Nigeria." ( p. 307). Geographically, it is divided into two sections, eastern (the larger of the two) and western. Its population is characterized by the diverse Igbo culture.
Politically, Igboland is divided into several southern Nigerian states; culturally, it has included several subgroupings, including the Awka-Enugu-Nsukka, Anioma-Anioma people, the Umueri-Aguleri-Anam groups, the Ngwa people, the Orlu-Okigwe-Owerri communities, the Mbaise, the Edda people, Bende people, the Ikwuano-Umuahia (these include Ohuhu, Ubakala, Oboro, Ibeku, etc.), the Omuma, the Abam-Aro people-Ohafia (Abiriba and Nkporo), the Waawa, the Ndoki people, the Etche, the Ekpeye people, and the Ogba people.
Igbo settlement, extends east and west in the Niger-Delta region which is owned by the Middle-Belt, formerly known as Bendel, from the Old Kalabar river to the banks of the Kwora, Niger River, and live in some territory at Aboh, to the west-ward of the latter stream. On the north it borders on Igara, Igala people and Akpotoro, and it is separated from the sea only by petty tribes, all of which trace their origin to this great race.
It is primarily situated in the Lowland forest region of Nigeria. They can also be found in some parts of the Niger Delta. Here the Niger river fans out into the Atlantic Ocean in a vast network of creeks and mangrove swamps on the Bight of Bonny.
The earliest found settlements in Igboland date to 900 Common Era in the central area, from where the majority of the Igbo-speaking population is believed to have migrated. The northern Igbo Kingdom of Nri, which rose around the 10th century CE, is credited with the foundation of much of Igboland's culture, customs, and religious practices. It is the oldest existing monarchy in present-day Nigeria. In southern Igboland several groups developed, of which the most notable was the Aro Confederacy and in Western Igboland the Anioma people kingdom of Aboh.
During the late 19th century, Igboland was made part of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate of the British Empire and was amalgamated into modern-day Nigeria in 1914. Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Shortly afterward, Igboland was involved in its biggest war during Biafra's movement for secession. It ended in 1970, when the war was declared "No victory, no vanquish".
In Nigeria today, Igboland is roughly made up of Abia State, Anambra State, Ebonyi State, Enugu State, Imo State, Northern Delta State and Rivers State states. More than 30 million people inhabit Igboland and with a population density ranging from it could be the most densely populated area in Africa after the Nile Valley.Chigere, p. 22. Altogether Igboland has an area of some .Victor Chikezie Uchendu (1965). 003052475X, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. 003052475X
Mid-nineteenth century trader W. B. Baikie said, "I seized the moment, and, by our interpreter, told Tshukuma, that we had come to make his acquaintance and his friendship, and to ascertain if the people were willing to trade with us." He signed a trade agreement with Igbo chief, Tshukuma (Chukwuma) Obi from Aboh which engaged in early active trading with Europe. Similarly, Baikie recounted that "after our salutations, I spoke of friendship, of trade, and of education, and particularly enlarged upon the evils of war, and the benefits of peace, all of which was well received", when signing a trade agreement on August 30, 1885, with Ezebogo, an Igbo chief in Asaba.
Due to the native common linguistic standard and interrelated cultures in Igboland, the lower Niger River, which divides Igboland into unequal eastern and western parts, has from ancient times provided easy means of communication, trading and unity amongst the Igbo on both sides of the river. It also enabled ancient trade and migration of people into Igboland, and between Igboland and rest of the world. Some of the notable ancient trade and export routes in Igboland included the famous lower Niger River and Njaba River-Oguta lake-Orashi River navigational routes via Asaba-Onitsha-Aboh, and Awo-omamma-Oguta-Ogba–Egbema–Ndoni-Aboh ferry services, respectively.
Some local villagers retain what they believe are original names of settlements, such as Umuzuoka, The Blacksmiths Ụzụoka, Ọkigwe, Ịmọka, etc.; excerpted in " Cultural Harmony I: Igboland — the World of Man and the World of Spirits", section 4 of Kalu Ogbaa, ed., Understanding Things Fall Apart (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999; ), pp. 83–85.
The Nsukka-Okigwe axis forms a basis for a proposed Proto-Igbo cultural heartland antecedent to contemporary Igbo culture. Much of the Igbo population is believed to have expanded from a smaller area in this region, diverging into several independent Igbo-speaking tribes, village-groups, kingdoms and states. The movements were generally broken into two trends in migration: a more northerly group that expanded towards the banks of the Niger and the upper quadrant of the Cross River; the other, following a southerly trail, had risen from the Isu people populations based closer to the axis from which the majority of southern Igbo communities emerged. Mbaise are notably the best examples of an Igbo group claiming autochthony; they reject theories of many migratory histories about their origins. Based on the proximity of traditions to those of their neighbours, and familial and political ties, many of these groups are apparently culturally northern or southern Igbo.
Initially, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, scholars believed that the Igbo Ukwu bronze and copper items found here had been made elsewhere and were trade goods or were influenced by outside technology due to their technical sophistication. The opposite was revealed to be true: local copper deposits had been exploited by the 9th century and anthropological evidence, such as the Ichi-like scarifications on the human figures, show the items were of local Igbo cultural origin. The works have since been attributed to an isolated bronze industry, which had developed without outside influence over time and reached great sophistication.
Igbo trade routes of the early second millennium reached the cities of Mecca, Medina and Jeddah through a network of trade routes journeyed by middlemen. Beads that originated in India in the 9th century have been found in Igbo Ukwu burial sites: Thousands of glass beads were uncovered from the ruined remains of a nobleman's garments. The burial site was associated with the Nri Kingdom, which began around the same century, according to indigenous history.
Due to historic trade and migration of old, other people also entered the Igboland in about the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries and mixed with the natives. Towards the western end of Igboland, across the Niger River, rose a man known as Eze Chima who fled Benin with his accomplices after a dispute with the Oba of Benin who consequently exiled him in the 1560s. As they left Benin City heading eastwards, Eze Chima and his followers settled in a number of lands and established monarchies with the natives in those areas. Those grew into townships and kingdoms after the 16th century. Collectively, these places are known as Umuezechima which translates as 'the children or descendants of king Chima'.
The present site of Arochukwu was originally settled by the Ibibio people under the Obong Okon Ita kingdom before the conquest of what became Obinkita in the 17th century by two main Igbo groups: the Eze Agwu clan and the Oke Nnachi assisted by the Ibom Isi (or Akpa) mercenaries under the leadership of the Nnubi dynasty. Led by Agwu Inobia, a descendant of Nna Uru from Abiriba, the Eze Agwu clan was centered at their capital Amanagwu and were resisted by Obong Okon Ita which led to the start of the Aro-Ibibio Wars.
The war initially became a stalemate. Both sides arranged a marriage between the king of Obong Okon Ita and a woman from Amanagwu. The marriage eventually failed to bring peace but played a decisive role in the war. Oke Nnachi was led by Nnachi Ipia who was a dibia or priest among the Edda people and was called by Agwu Inobia to help in the war against the Ibibio. These groups were followed by a third non-Igbo Ekoi people-cultured group, Akpa or Ibom Oburutu who were led by Akuma Nnaubi, the first Eze Aro, the title of the king of the Aro.
In southern Igboland several groups developed mostly independent of Nri influence. Most of these groups followed a migration out of Isu people in present-day Imo State, although some communities, such as the Mbaise cluster of village groups, claim to be Indigenism.
Due to the incompatibility of the Igbo decentralized style of government and the centralized system required for British indirect rule, Colonial Nigeria was marked with open conflicts and much tension. Under British colonial rule, the diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly decreased and distinctions between the Igbo and other large ethnic groups, such as the Hausa people and the Yoruba people, became sharper. British rule brought about changes in culture such as the introduction of warrant chiefs as Eze (traditional rulers) where there were no such monarchies.
Following a coup in 1966 which saw mostly Igbo soldiers assassinating politicians from the western and northern regions of Nigeria, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi seized control of Lagos, the capital, and came into power as military head of state of Nigeria. In revolt and retaliation against the government General Aguiyi-Ironsi was ambushed and assassinated by Northern members of the military on 29 July 1966 in a revolt against that had strong ethnic overtones. Ironsi's assassination stood out more because of the method of his killers; Ironsi had his legs tied to the back of a Land Rover and was driven around town while still attached. The Eastern Region formed the core of the secessionist Republic of Biafra. A regional council of the peoples of Eastern Nigeria decided the region should secede as the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
Nigerian General Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu on this day made a declaration of independence of Biafra from Nigeria and became the head of state of the new republic.
French intelligence officer Jean Mauricheau-Beaupré, a deputy to the then lead coordinator of France's Africa policy Jacques Foccart, declared the following to those who were concerned with French support to Biafra: "French support was actually given to a handful of Biafran bourgeoisie in return for the oil.... The real Ibo mentality is much farther to the left than that of Ojukwu and even if we had won, there would have been the problem of keeping him in power in the face of leftist infiltration."" Telegram from the Central Intelligence Agency to the White House Situation Room," CIA, 20262, TDCS DB – 315/00173-70 (ADVANCE), 14 January 1970, in FRUS, Vol. E-5, 2005 (160); as cited in Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War" (2015), p. 120. Biafra, for its part, openly appreciated its relationship with France.Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War" (2015), p. 119.The Nigerian Civil War (or the "Nigerian-Biafran War") lasted from 6 July 1967 until 15 January 1970, after which Biafra once again became part of Nigeria. The Republic of Biafra was defeated after three years of war by the federal government of Nigeria from 1967 to 1970 with military support from the United Kingdom (strategy and ammunition), Soviet Union (ammunition), the United Arab Republic (air force), as well as with support from other states around the world. The effects of Nigerian war strategies such as starvation on Biafran civilians (most of whom were ethnic Igbo) remains a controversial topic. The movement for the sovereignty of Biafra has continued with a minority, most making up the MASSOB organisation.
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